Password protect application without using sudo

Question

I have an unusual request. I need to put a password on an app but I need the app to run at the user level (not Sudo or SU). Is there an easy way to do this?

You could write a shell script which requests a password before executing the file, but obviously that is like a joke if you are looking for real password protection, as anyone could open the script and retrieve the password from it... — Eduardo López, Jan 26 '16 at 19:29
It is a system that will be permanently installed and will only be running 1 program so I have disabled certain menu items. I believe the program is called "alacarte" It is just so someone can't go in after the fact and make these items accessible again without a password. I am not looking for security as 1 maybe 2 people will ever use the system — Kyle Thompson, Jan 26 '16 at 20:08
Possible duplicate of How to make it so that a file can only be executed by root, but not as root? — , Jan 26 '16 at 20:54

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 26 '16 at 21:25

0

You could do that with a simple bash script and Zenity. As stated, this shouldn't be used unless you don't care about security.

#!/bin/sh

#Create the Zenity Window and show it
OUTPUT=$(zenity --password "Password")

#Compare the user input with your hardcoded password
if [ "$OUTPUT" = "abc1234" ]
then
    #Command to launch the application from the CLI. Replace with your own command
    /usr/bin/nautilus
else
    #Throw an error
    zenity --error --text "Password incorrect. Terminating"
fi

Save this to a .sh file, give it +x permissions and you are ready to go, just replace the command accordingly.

edited Jan 26 '16 at 21:25

muru

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answered Jan 26 '16 at 21:16

Eduardo López

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It doesnt work for me, I keep getting an error "This option is not available. Please see --help for all possible usages." The error is referring to the --password operator for Zenity – Kyle Thompson Jan 27 '16 at 15:33
Hmm? Strange... what happens if you input 'zenity --password "Password"' in a Terminal Window? – Eduardo López Jan 27 '16 at 16:56
Same Error This option is not available. Please see --help for all possible usages And --password is not listed under the help menu for zenity either – Kyle Thompson Jan 27 '16 at 17:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '16 at 18:14

I figured it out, I got it to ask for the password of a user I created called "admin" which is the system administrator. I have set the "user" account to be only a desktop user and not an administrator.

1) I changed the menu entry to say gksu -w -u admin /home/admin/bin/menu.sh (Where I put the script)

2) In the menu.sh script gksu -u user /usr/bin/alacarte

3) When executed, it asks for admin's password and then from there it runs the program as user under the higher admin user.

Normally this would not be a problem, but when alacarte (Menu Editor) is run as admin or root. It edits the menu of admin or root and not the current user which is a little pointless

This sounds really convoluted for a minor problem, and I am sure there is a simpler way to do this. I am relatively new to this sort of thing. Let me know if there is an easier way to do this.

Thanks,

Kyle T.

This should have been part of your question rather than an answer. — Christophe De Troyer, Jan 27 '16 at 18:19
I am not really sure how to do that, I only saw an option to post an answer. Sorry, I am new to this here — Kyle Thompson, Jan 27 '16 at 20:08

Password protect application without using sudo

2 Answers2